Annazette Collins is an American politician. She was a member of the

Illinois State Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

from 2011 to 2013, representing the 5th district. She previously was a member of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

, representing the 10th district from 2001 to 2011. During the 2012

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

primary election, Collins lost to Patricia Van Pelt Watkins. Collins received 46.4 percent of the vote.

Early life

Collins earned her undergraduate degree in sociology and her master's in Criminal Justice from

Chicago State University Chicago State University (CSU) is a predominantly black public university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, it was an innovative teachers college. Eventually the Chicago Public Schools assumed control o ...

Career

Prior to her election as state representative, Collins held various positions in social services and criminal justice agencies. Collins worked as an Administrator of the Chicago Board of Education, a Public Service Administrator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS),

Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...

Social Services, Probation Department, and a Correctional Officer with the Bureau of Prisons.

State Representative

Collins listed her legislative priorities as improving education, expanding access to quality health care, raising the age of majority for juveniles and reforming juvenile justice system. Ms. Collins co-sponsored FamilyCare, which allows working parents of KidCare-eligible children, to have access to state subsidized health care. Collins worked on legislation to allow patients to sue

health maintenance organization In the United States, a health maintenance organization (HMO) is a medical insurance group that provides health services for a fixed annual fee. It is an organization that provides or arranges managed care for health insurance, self-funded he ...

s for harmful and delayed medical procedures. Collins worked to move children out of state custody into family environments whenever possible. She was the chief sponsor of adoption reform legislation allowing godparents and second cousins to adopt children in the custody of DCFS.

Controversy

In July 2008, the

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

State

Board of Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

fined Collins'

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed * Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * B ...

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

$20,000 and ordered her to issue an apology for filing political finance reports from 2005 to 2007 that reflected the raising, but not spending, of campaign money. The board's orders stemmed from a complaint filed by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform indicating a lack of contributions or expenditures on her state-mandated campaign disclosure. Collins' campaign committee has corrected 18 of its previously filed reports after the complaint was filed.

Personal life

Collins is married to Keith Langston and they have two daughters, Angelique Nicole and Taylor Kourtnie.

References

External links

Illinois General Assembly – Representative Annazette Collins (D) 10th District
official IL House website
BillsCommitteesProject Vote Smart – Representative Annazette R. Collins (IL)
profile *''Follow the Money'' – Annazette R Collins
2006200420022000
campaign contributions
Illinois House Democrats - Annazette Collins
profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Annazette Illinois state senators Members of the Illinois House of Representatives 1962 births Living people Chicago State University alumni Northern Illinois University alumni Politicians from Chicago African-American state legislators in Illinois African-American women in politics Baptists from Illinois Women state legislators in Illinois 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women